When he saw a minister give a long speech in answering a question, he grew irritated and drew the attention of the speaker to curtail the rendering. He would narrate his initial years in the legislature and also in Lok Sabha when ministers gave to-the-point answers during Question Hour. His nephew Dharmendra would jest that my presence in the House was disturbing Netaji’s siesta. Never use English.” Narendra Modi with Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, March 19, 2017Ī number of times he rushed to the House when I deliberated on certain Bills during the post-lunch hours. I told him once that I was forced to struggle to find the right word to say in Hindi and he said, “Use an Odia word… you can communicate. But later I became convinced that Hindi has greater impact inside and outside the House. At first, I was under the impression that Mulayam Singh was driven by his strong Lohiya-socialist background. If you want to be in national politics, Hindi is a must,” he said. He often reminded me: How many people in your constituency, in your state or even the country, understand English? “Speak in Hindi, you will be appreciated. Many a time he would cajole me to speak in Hindi and when I said I could not express myself as well, he would retort that if I could talk with him in Hindi, I could give a speech in it too. Log usme interested nahin hein (Don’t load your speeches with statistics)”. He would very often say “ apne speech mein itne statistics mat do. I always wanted to learn the nuances of politics, articulation in the House, and how to be critical of the government and yet friendly with the treasury-bench members.Īs a journalist and editor of The Prajatantra, I had read a lot about him in the 1980s and 1990s but when I sat with him to discuss certain matters, I found in him an elder brother who not only guided me in my speeches but also appreciated my points. His affectionate behaviour always attracted everyone to him during leisure hours when business in the House was not being transacted. I had the good fortune of knowing him from close quarters as we were members of the 16th and the present Lok Sabha and sat close to each other. His tenacity and touch with the grassroots ensured his survival in the cauldron of Mandal and Kamandal (caste and religious) politics. More than a son of the soil, he was a child of the wilderness, who followed the path of his mentor, Chaudhary Charan Singh, and decimated Congress which represented the hold of the upper castes in UP politics. He hailed from a non-political background, emerging from a modest village in Saifai of Etawah district that lies very near the Chambal ravines. Mulayam Singh was a teacher by profession, a farmer by lineage, and a wrestler by training. Elected as a legislator 10 times, as a Lok Sabha MP seven terms, thrice UP’s chief minister and the country’s defence minister in the United Front government, he came tantalisingly close to the prime minister’s chair when coalition politics was the order of the day. He reigned supreme, despite the reverses that the heartland’s tumultuous politics invariably brings, for over 50 years. THE DEATH OF Mulayam Singh Yadav brings to an end an eventful era in Uttar Pradesh (UP) as well as in national politics.
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